Until he had walked into what would soon be the living room, he had forgotten all about his small counterpart. His eyes snapped open at the sight of her bright red curls amidst the sea of boxes and, after a moment to compose himself, he'd padded across the room. With a creak of the bones, he sat next to her on the floor.
"Ya know ya s'posed to color in the lines." He said, after a few minutes of watching her swap colored crayons and draw her own additions into the coloring book. She shrugged and kept drawing what looked like it could have been a dog, maybe a cat if you squinted. He raked his hands over his face as he caught sight of a few boxes which had mysteriously moved into a small box fort for her doll, who had been discarded several feet away. He guessed she'd been up for a while. He had to wonder if she'd slept at all.
"How come ya drawin' in a colouring book?" Daryl wondered, no longer able to contain his curiosity. He watched her add a few squiggles to the top of the page. She kept colouring as she answered his question.
"Whenever I asked for a drawin' book – you know, the ones with all the blank pages? I just got colouring in books, or connect-the-dots," she explained, her eyes still fixed on her page. "And besides, I already ran outta stuff to draw on here." She added, her brow creasing in thought. Wait – Daryl didn't recall having anything for her to draw on. The man sure as hell didn't own a drawing book and having just moved in, had no paper.
"What were you drawing on?" He asked, preparing himself to hear 'my bedroom wall' or something of the like.
"Just boxes." She shrugged, continuing with her drawing. On closer inspection, Daryl noticed that the box labelled 'kitchen' was sporting what looked like a giant sun, whilst 'shed' had a few smiley faces drawn on it. It was then that Daryl decided, perhaps it was best if Lily played outside, just while he got the house in order.
That little girl from the other day was on the lawn again, Sophia had been carefully observing her new neighbors since the second they had moved in.
"Sophia, are you being a sticky beak?" Carol couldn't help but chuckle. Sophia had been over by the window since she'd woken up, her morning cartoons long forgotten. The little girl jumped up from the window and headed toward the kitchen.
"No Momma." She said as she came to sit at one of the chairs by the kitchen bench, she peered over the counter. "Cookies!" Sophia cheered as she watched her mother load the still-hot cookies into a tub, save for one, which she gave Sophia permission to munch on.
"Why don't you run these across to the new neighbors?" Carol suggested, knowing full well her daughter had been all but stalking the pair across the street. Sophia popped the last bit of her cookie into her mouth before nodding avidly and accepting the container.
As Sophia stepped onto the over growing grass of the Dixon's lawn, she noticed the little girl was poking around with some of the flowers, some petals must have come off in her hand because she dusted her hands and the petals scattered across the lawn. Sophia felt her shyness kicking in and swallowed thickly.
"What are you doing?" Sophia asked, craning her neck to get a better look at the decaying flower. Lily jumped a bit at the unexpected voice but regained her composure.
"I was trying to fix the flowers, but I don't think they want fixin'." Lily sighed and stepped away from the garden bed. A silence passed between the two and Sophia shuffled nervously.
"Oh, my mom wanted me to bring these over, it's a welcome present." Sophia stuttered and held out the container of cookies. Lily smiled as she took the box.
"Thanks a heap. I'll take 'em inside in a bit." Lily and Sophia avoided eye contact for a minute.
"It's hot today." Sophia stated and chuckled awkwardly, she began wringing her hands, which had become a bit of a nervous habit.
"Yeah." Lily agreed, "Hey uh… Sophia, I was thinkin' of playing under the sprinkler and 's kinda boring alone. D-did you wanna stay and play?" She stammered. Lily hadn't had many friends, a few acquaintances maybe, but she could never recall actually playing with another kid, maybe once in kindergarten. Sophia's eyes lit up like it was Christmas.
"R-really?! That sounds like a heap of fun! Won't you get in trouble, though? – I always have to tell my mom when I have company." Sophia tilted her head to the side.
"Daryl won't mind." Lily shrugged. "I'll be right back, 'kay? I'm gonna put these inside." Lily held up the container of cookies and bolted for the door, calling 'wait right there' the whole way.
Sophia and Lily felt like explorers in the huge backyard. Lily hadn't had time to check it out yet and so she was as eager as Sophia to explore. The back yard, much like the front, was in quite a state and in serious need of some TLC, but Lily saw no reason not to play out there.
"You're sure it's okay for me to come play, right?" Sophia asked, feeling a bit nervous. The guy who had opened the door the other day gave her a case of the skeevies. Lily yanked a hose out of a box resting by the back door, a sprinkler soon followed.
"Yeah, it's fine." Lily shrugged, she hadn't checked with Daryl but he didn't seem like he'd be cross about it. The pair soon located the tap and hooked up the hose to it, then the sprinkler to the hose. Sophia stood by the sprinkler, Lily by the tap. "Are you ready?!" Lily called, Sophia gave the thumbs up and Lily turned the tap on, water erupted out the sprinkler and drenched Sophia, Lily darted over and squealed with delight as she ran into the spray, the cold water sent shivers through her and made her clothes feel heavy but she didn't mind. The two jumped and ran through the water, mud fights broke out and soon the pair were soaked and covered in mud. It was the most fun either of them had in a long time.
Daryl could hear Lily all the way from the living room. It was pretty hard not to hear Lily, since she squealed or had a giggle fit every five seconds. Daryl had noticed that she'd vacated the front yard in favor of the back yard a little while ago, he also noticed the blond kid from yesterday but he didn't say anything. As long as the kid was out of his hair – and his boxes – he didn't mind what she was doing. But alas, there could be no peace for Daryl Dixon because for the second time in two days he was surprised by a knock at the door. It was however, the same woman from yesterday. He wasn't surprised very much by that.
"Uh, can I help ya with somethin'?" Daryl asked her, she seemed a little jumpier than yesterday.
"Yeah, I sent Sophia over here just a little while ago… I think she stayed to play with uh, Lily but I wasn't sure, she didn't mention it. So I was just wondering if you'd seen her." Carol felt like she was rambling, she was 90% sure Sophia had stayed to play with Lily, but Sophia hadn't mentioned it, so Carol – ever the mama bear – was just over to make sure. Much to her relief, Daryl nodded.
"Yeah, she's just 'round the back… did ya want me to go get 'er?" Daryl resisted the urge to chew his nail right then.
"Oh… i-it's okay. I hope she didn't cause you any trouble." Carol felt a little wobble creeping into her voice.
"Nah, she's jus' been playin' with Lily," Daryl shrugged and shuffled on the spot. "Did you uh, wanna come in or somethin'?" Daryl hadn't really been taught very much in the way of manners, but it was his understanding that it was basic etiquette to offer someone to come in for coffee or tea or whatever the hell people did.
"Alright." Carol stepped into the house.
"Oh, there's a lot o' shit lyin' around everywhere. Sorry 'bout that." Daryl said as he walked with Carol toward the kitchen bench, he proceeded to pull two coffee mugs out of a box, he tilted one toward Carol in offer. "Cleaner than it looks, I swear." He half jested. Carol nodded okay and Daryl did the whole coffee brewing thing, Daryl was somewhat of an closet coffee junkie and the kettle had been the first thing unpacked. The two decided coffee on the back porch sounded like a fine idea and headed out to check on the girls.
"Looks like they had fun." Carol giggled as she took a sip from her mug. The two were covered head to toe in mud and absolutely drenched, Lily even had a few twigs sticking out of her curls. Daryl nodded in agreement.
"Aaw, ya Mom's here." Lily frowned upon noticing the adults. "You gotta go home?" She asked. Sophia looked toward Carol, who said, "in a few minutes, Soph." The two girls turned off the sprinkler and headed out the side gate to the front yard, trading goodbyes like they didn't live just across the street.
"You're daughter seems sweet." Carol observed as soon as the young ones had departed. Daryl felt panic spreading through him like wildfire.
"What? Oh, no. Lily ain't my daughter. I mean… I'm not her Daddy – which is uh… Lily's my niece." Daryl stammered, smooth move he winced almost painfully, he could see Carol smiling at his struggle and he cleared his throat.
"Well, your niece seems sweet," Carol chuckled. "I'd love to set up another playdate for the girls sometime." She continued. Daryl decided to overlook her use of the word playdate.
"Uh… Sure. Sophia can just come by whenever, y'know. Doesn't bother me none." Daryl shrugged.
"Same goes for Lily." Carol smiled and Daryl took her empty mug. "Thanks for the coffee."
Lily and Daryl saw Sophia and Carol off, watching as the two figures retreated to their home across the street, Sophia animatedly retelling the events of the great mud war to Carol, who listened quietly as her daughter chattered away. The neighboring families both retired to their homes, content to spend the rest of the day relaxing.
A.N: Please help, plot bunnies are holding me against my will... Sorry if this was bad, I felt it was a little... flat? - Anywho... thank you for your awesome reviews and follows and favs and stuffs, they make me happy. I know it may seem weird that neighbors just run over to each other's houses without their guardians knowledge, but I've always found myself hopping someone's fence or darting across the street for some uninterrupted playtime.
Thank you very much for follows, favorites and reviews, special thanks for: pharmtechgrl71, Prodigium, protonefrid, ferrisbueller and vickih for their reviews to chapter 2, they were all lovely and encouraging and no one felt the need to concuss me with a brick and I danced around my bedroom a little bit with happiness.
Thank you to all the favoriters and followers: BrucieBaby, EmbraceYourFREAK, Kabrinastar, Lisab876, LucyC-96, MSHK, Prodigium, Writingismypassions, adelicateflower08, Crystal2817, ferrisbueller, hockeydrmr9, lismrox, melniewn, Pharmtechgrl71, protonefrid, texasbelle91, tyffany86, vickih and tessuhhh.
~Boo~